


Seek and Search

by donutsweeper



Category: Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)
Genre: Case Fic, Gen, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-17 22:28:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21517456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donutsweeper/pseuds/donutsweeper
Summary: Katsumoto had begun to hate getting calls from Thomas Magnum because the man only ever called when he needed something and Katsumoto was tired of the endless stream of requested favors.Then came the call when Magnum was in serious need of help and Katsumoto could only  hope he'd be able to provide it.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 91
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Seek and Search

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hazel_Athena](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hazel_Athena/gifts).



Gordon Katsumoto liked to think of himself as a reasonable person. A little jaded, sure, what cop wasn't, but still all in all he considered himself a reasonable guy. However there was a certain greeting he was beginning to have an instinctive, automatic frustration with. It always started "Katsumoto?" and usually continued with "It's Magnum, I was wondering if you could…" before detailing whatever favor Magnum was going to try to wheedle out of him at that particular moment. It was annoying, presumptive, and becoming far too common an occurrence. And yet, he always answered his phone.

Then came the day came when that call was the kind that had the hairs on the back of his neck standing up and was accompanied by a sinking feeling in his stomach. 

He was just returning to his car with a hot cup of coffee and a bag of fresh malasadas when his phone rang and he had to admit, even before he looked to see who it was, there was this momentary thought of pretending not to hear it long enough to have his first sip but professionalism won out and after checking the number—it wasn't one he recognized—he answered it. "Hello?" 

"Kat…sumoto?" 

"Magnum?" The shaking breathing that followed had his cop instincts blaring. Concerned, Katsumoto threw the bag of malasadas onto the passenger side seat and shoved the coffee into the cup holder as quickly as he could without spilling any on himself. He quickly slid into the driver's seat and buckled up, ready to head off to wherever he was needed as soon as he had an inkling of where to go.

"I think. I think I killed him." The odd, dazed pitch to his tone made Katsumoto think that whoever was dead had either drugged or gravely injured Magnum before meeting his fate.

"Knowing you, I'm sure it was self defense. Now, why don't you tell me what happened and where you are?"

"I'm still tied to the chair. They used zip ties and… and duct tape. Both of 'em. Who does that?"

"People who are serious about not wanting you to escape." Pulling out his tablet, Katsumoto ordered a trace on both Magnum's phone as well as the number he was currently calling from. "Can you tell me where the chair is?" he asked as he sent Higgings a quick text via his tablet: _On phone with Magnum- sounds like he's been grabbed and drugged or hurt. What's his current case?_

"The floor." There was a long enough pause that Katsumoto thought that might be all Magnum was going to say before he, almost distractedly, added, "But that's how I got him; they didn't tie down my legs." 

Higgins meanwhile, sent back: _There isn't one. What has he said?_

Realizing Magnum wasn't probably going to be able to provide his location, Katsumoto texted back a quick: _Nothing helpful. Coming to you, eta 15 min_ and tossed the tablet on the seat. He then turned on the siren and pulled out of the parking lot, heading towards Robin's Nest. They might not have been working a case, but Higgins could still know if Magnum'd had any threats made against him lately and even if not, it was as good a place as any to start searching for clues regarding where he'd been grabbed or by who. 

"So you're on the floor. Do you know where that floor is?" When there was no response he tried different questions as he drove, asking things like, "What can you tell me about the building you're being held in?" and "Do you know who took you?" but to no avail. The few times Magnum actually said anything it wasn't terribly coherent and not only rarely seemed to be offered in response to one of Katsumoto's questions but was never what could be considered helpful in any way whatsoever.

At the gate to the Masters estate he entered in his code—both thankful that he'd been given the damn thing while at the same time a little concerned at how many times he'd had to use it for official police business—and, since he had a quick break from driving, took a quick look to see if there were responses to any of his alerts, but it didn't appear to be the case. There was nothing further from Higgins so as the gate swung open he dashed off a quick text to her to let her know he'd arrived and would drive up to the main house.

He was just putting the car into park when Magnum spoke up again, clearer than anything he'd said in a while, and said, "Katsumoto, don't tell Higgy about the Ferrari, okay?"

"That depends, what happened to it?"

"It was when they were chasing me… thought I got away. I didn't see the spike strip 'til it was too late."

"Did it just take out your tires or did it cause you to crash the car too?" Grabbing the tablet he amended information he'd entered earlier to include a BOLO on the car that Magnum always drove with the note it might have been damaged and abandoned and an official APB on Magnum himself.

"Jus' the tires. But still. Higgy's… Higgy's gonna be so mad."

"It's just a car, Magnum, I can practically guarantee you she won't be." 

As he exited the car the front door flew open and Kumu rushed out. "Detective! Is that him? How is he doing?"

"He's a little more coherent than earlier. Can you keep him talking so I can see what Higgins found while I was enroute?" he asked, offering her the phone.

"Of course. Juliet is waiting for you in the office. Thomas?" Her voice changed the moment she was speaking to Magnum; Katsumoto actually was impressed with how warm she sounded and how well she hid her concern and worry. "How are you doing?"

Following the sound of the clacking of keys, Katsumoto found Higgings typing on a laptop with one phone tucked against her ear and second on the desk in front of her. "Higgins?"

Gesturing for him to wait, she said, "That would be wonderful, thank you," into the first phone before ending the call, dropping it and grabbing the other. "Anything?" she asked the person on the other end and listened for a moment before saying, "Well, I appreciate you trying," and hung up that one as well. Then, turning to Katsumoto she offered him a quick, "Sorry."

"No apology needed. Kumu is on with Magnum now; hopefully she'll get more out of him then I did. So far all I've got is he got caught while driving the Ferrari and, he didn't mention how, wound up tied to a chair in an empty room where he somehow overpowered one of his captors, killed him, and managed to get the man's phone, which he used to call me."

Higgins pursed her lips. "I wonder why he called you and not me."

"Right, about that… you know how I texted about how he seemed to be drugged or injured? He's definitely not thinking clearly and apparently there was some damage done to the Ferrari when he was captured and he didn't want you to be mad about that." Katsumoto ignored her muttering about Magnum being a fool and an idiot and continued, "Is the car lojacked? Can you locate it?"

"Yes and I activated the search for it as soon as I got your message but to no avail. It appears to have been disabled or blocked. Rick has some... associates is probably the best term, keeping an eye out for it."

"Of course you called Rick," Katsumoto said, half to himself. "I assume he and T.C. are on their way?"

Higgins didn't even bother to answer that, just shooting him an almost incredulous look as she continued to type. "Ah, here we go," she said after another minute or so. "I'm in."

"Do I want to know where it is you've gotten in?"

"Probably not." 

Curiosity got the better of him though and he took a quick look at the screen, but immediately averted his eyes when he realized it was some sort of military website. Deciding that what he didn't know he couldn't arrest someone for, instead of watching her work he pulled out his tablet to see what had been discovered through official channels. Magnum's phone appeared to be off, so unable to be traced, and they were having difficulty triangulating the specific location of the one he was currently calling from—which was actually odd when he thought about it. "You said you weren't getting anything from the lojack?"

"No, there were some weak pings, but nothing we could pinpoint its location from."

"The department is having the same problem with the phone he's using now. Wherever he is must be messing with the signal."

Higgins' eyes lit up as she realized the same thing he had. "That in itself is something to go on. What has Magnum given you about where he's being held?"

Katsumoto thought back, filtering through the nonsense and random asides. "Cold cement floor. There was some echoing which suggests he isn't being held in a small, enclosed room but instead someplace fairly open. I didn't hear any other voices and so far no one has discovered that Magnum has taken out his captor or has been on the phone with me so we can assume there was only the one guard and that he's not being carefully or constantly monitored. That could mean there's a rotation and no one's come to check on them yet, or it's a remote enough location that the expectation was that even if he did overpower his guard he wouldn't be able to make his way to safety."

"What about other noises?"

He shook his head. "Nothing that stood out. No traffic noises. Nothing muffled like it was coming from another floor of a building or in through a window. Although there was a dim motor in the distance maybe? Like a machinery noise of some sort?" 

"If he was somewhere where there was a lot of metal or large buildings around that could be interfering with the signals enough to prevent accurate tracing. How clear was the connection?"

"Not great, come to think of it. I'd attributed it to his state but you're right, it could have been interference, or at least partly. What are you thinking, warehouses? The docks?"

"It could be. I'll run a program to combine known cellular dead spots with areas of poor coverage and using that as a basis for plotting the information from the pings from the Ferrari's last known location and the police department's—"

"Ah, ah, ah," Katsumoto cut her off then and there. "Do it, just don't tell me the details." Sure he wanted her to find Magnum but, yet again, the less he knew about the process the better. Hearing people approaching, he moved so he could look down the hall and saw that Kumu was heading their way with Rick and T.C. right behind her.

"Thomas stopped responding a few minutes ago," she reported as she returned his phone, "and now the line has gone dead."

Continuing her typing, Higgings asked, "Did he say anything that can help us find him?" 

"I'm afraid not. He didn't sound much like himself. I could tell he was trying to hide it, but he sounded weak and confused."

"We'll find him, Kumu," Rick wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Besides, this is Thomas we're talking about. He's like a cat; he'd got nine lives."

"And he's got us," T.C. assured her. "We haven't let him down before and we're not going to now."

Kumu smiled at them, but it was a weak one.

Addressing Higgins and Katsumoto Rick said, "Icepick put me in touch with a guy who knew this guy who—"

"Rick," T.C. interrupted him softly. Some sort of look passed between them, but Katsumoto couldn't see what it was.

"Right," Rick took a deep breath before continuing, "So I might have a line on a few locations where there's been some... shall we say… unusual activity in the past few days. You guys would have called us if you found him, but have you narrowed down where you think he might be?"

"Come take a look at this." Higgins gestured to her computer. After purposely waiting a few minutes for them to discuss how they'd each obtained their various bits of information and for Higgins to work a little more of her magic, Katsumoto joined them. A topographical map with a circle drawn around one section took up most of the screen.

"This is where you think he is?" he asked.

"It's our best guess, but that's all it is. There's no way to be certain," Higgins admitted.

"Doesn't mean we're not heading out there, though."

"Hell no, you know it man." T.C. slapped Rick on the back hard enough to force him to take a step forward so not as to lose his balance.

"We can't be certain what we'll be up against, or if he is even there," Higgins continued, directing her comments to Katsumoto. "And considering how we obtained the information we used to ascertain the location it would be understandable if you wished to continue your own lines of inquiry rather than coming with us."

"Magnum may be a pain in the ass, but he's _my_ pain in the ass and if someone took him and hurt him I want to see them arrested and paying for their crimes. That said, while I will go with you, I think I'll wait to pursue this through the department until I'm certain what kind of help will be needed." The extra backup they could get if he called it in might be nice, but without hard evidence or proof this was where Magnum was being held, it would probably be difficult to obtain.

The others nodded, understanding his reasoning. "You armed?" T.C. asked him.

Katsumoto opened his jacket to reveal his Glock 17. "And I've my MP5 in the trunk," he added, getting an appreciative nod in response. He wasn't surprised that a submachine gun like his Heckler & Koch MP5A3 would be welcome in this situation.

"Between the extra firepower Rick and I got and what Higgy has we should be good to go then. I figure it'll be quickest if I fly us there- should be less than a half an hour and that'll include the time it'll take to get to the bird and get her in the air."

While Higgins busied herself opening a gun safe Katsumoto turned to Kumu. "I'm going to have to ask you to stay here."

"Of course, detective. But please, call me when you find him?"

"We will. But for now…" Higgins whistled and two dogs came running into the room. "Zeus, Apollo, protect Kumu." The dogs barked in reply. "Shall we, gentlemen?"

The four of them headed to _Island Hoppers_ where T.C. had apparently called ahead, because Shammy was waiting for them when they drove up.

"She's purring like a kitten for you," he said as he wiped some grease off his hands. 

"Thanks, man." T.C. held out a fist for Shammy to bump and then headed to the helicopter. "I'm going to do preflight. Rick?"

"On it," Rick replied. His tone was light, almost sing-song like, in complete contrast with the military manner in which Rick crossed the room and began pulling a practical arsenal out of a weapons locker.

True to his word, it was only a few minutes before they were airborne and they'd arrived at their destination practically before Katsumoto knew it. After some discussion about sightlines, they landed about 300 yards away and approached on foot from the south. It was no wonder the signals hadn't been clear enough to be traced with the number of large warehouses and trucks, cranes and heavy machinery everywhere. 

The intel Rick had gotten from his contacts, once Higgins had combined it with what she'd found, seemed to have led them to the right place. Parked in front of the building was a large semi that had its trailer closed only part way, enabling them to see the bottom half of a red Ferrari inside of it set up on blocks. The plates had been removed and a fresh set of tires were leaning against the wall next to it. 

Since they were trying to be as quiet as possible, instead of outright asking about the car, Katsumoto gestured at it and raised an eyebrow. Higgins nodded in response. Definitely Magnum's car then. Using hand motions, it was decided that Rick and T.C. would check the cab while Katsumoto and Higgins cleared the trailer. So far they hadn't spotted any guards outside the building, but none of them had any desire to be surprised if they could help it.

"The way the tires have blown is consistent with having driven over a spike strip like Magnum described," Katsumoto commented softly. 

"The front passenger tire has been removed but none of the others and the tools have just been left here. It's like they were going to replace all the tires but then decided to just abandoned the car instead."

Movement outside had Katsumoto bringing up his gun but it was followed almost immediately by Rick whispering, "It's me."

Deciding to leave the car and tires for the crime scene team to process later, Katsumoto exited the trailer. "Find anything?" he asked as he offered a hand to Higgins, who ignored it and jumped down beside him.

"T.C.'s doing a sweep of the area, but it doesn't look like anyone's here. Not guarding the outside, anyway. I don't get it. I mean, I don't see any cameras around so they can't be monitoring the area remotely but they don't have guards? It doesn't make sense unless the Ferrari's here but Thomas isn't."

"Whether it makes sense or not," Higgins pointed out, "he may still be in the building somewhere and just because there's no guards outside it doesn't mean there aren't any inside."

"Fair point."

In Katsumoto's opinion finding the car there but no guards was a bad sign. He couldn't help but think that—if Magnum had ever been here in the first place— there was a chance that whoever was behind Magnum's capture had decided to just kill him and then get the hell out of the area as fast as they could so they wouldn't get caught. Of course he had enough tact not to say it out loud, but he was pretty sure at least one, if not both, of the others were considering it as well.

Once T.C. returned the four of them entered the building moving as stealthily as they could. It was set up exactly what Katsumoto had expected: a large loading and unloading area in the center with all the machinery needed to make quick work of it and plenty of shelving for storing things as needed. Towards the rear there was a section partitioned off as a sort of office and although it had a wall and door separating it from the rest of the building, they didn't go all the way up to the ceiling of the warehouse, rather ending at a more typical building's eight or ten feet height.

The only noise other than their footfalls was the low hum of an air-conditioning unit which, Katsumoto realized, could have been the noise he'd occasionally heard when on the phone with Magnum; it was beginning to look likely they were in the right place. Once they got to the office T.C. motioned that he was going to use the small stepladder he'd found to peer over the partition wall near where it met the outer wall and they should be ready to open the door and swarm the room once he gave the okay.

They positioned themselves carefully. Higgins was to the left of the door, ready to open it at T.C.'s signal. Since Rick had the most serious firepower of them all he stood back a few feet, ready to take out anyone he could with his SIG-Sauer Rattler while Katsumoto was on his knees to the right of the door with with MP5 up, ready to hit anything Rick missed.

Using his fingers T.C. counted down from five, maneuvering to get a look just as he reached 'one' but instead of sending them in he called out, "It's clear. Just Thomas and a guy who looks pretty damn dead."

Despite that information Higgins remained to the side and carefully opened the door so she'd be out of the line of fire if Rick needed to shoot. Katsumoto went into the room first and found it exactly as T.C. had described. Still tied to securely to a chair, Magnum was on the floor on his side, limp against his bonds, and very still. Lying a few feet away was another man who was obviously dead. At a quick look, if Katsumoto had to guess, the man had assumed Magnum was either unconscious or too securely restrained to be an issue and had turned his back to him, possibly to take a call. Magnum had managed to get to his feet and swung around, striking him with the rear legs of the chair. The man had stumbled back and lost his footing, smacking his head into the corner of the desk. Magnum's momentum had sent him to the floor as well, but he managed to use the side of his boots to get enough purchase on the floor to inch himself close enough to grab the dead man's phone.

Higgins rushed in and checked Magnum's pulse. "He's alive!"

"I'll call it in." Katsumoto dialed the station and not only requested an ambulance but also CSU and a full team to come in to deal with the dead man and process the scene.

While he was doing that Rick was sawing through the duct tape to try to free Magnum. "Try to preserve it as best you can," Katsumoto said in between calls, "There might be fingerprints we can lift from it." At the sound of sirens he headed out to meet up with the arriving boys in blue and fill them in with what he knew.

It was a few hours before he was able to leave the crime scene and check in on Magnum at the hospital. He poked his head into the room and was unsurprised to find that despite hospital policy, he wasn't there by himself. Since Magnum looked like he was sleeping, Katsumoto motioned for them to come with him so they could talk without disturbing him. Kumu stayed at Magnum's bedside, but Rick, T.C. and Higgins all joined him in the hall.

"How's he doing?"

"There's evidence of some drugs in his system, but most of it has already metabolized which is making figuring out exactly what he was dosed with and how much was given him difficult. Between the drugs, the concussion, two cracked ribs and various minor cuts and bruises the doctors want to keep him overnight to monitor him but they think he should be fine in a few days," Higgins said, a tired smile on her face. "How's the investigation going? What did you find?" 

Shaking his head he admitted, "Not much. The place was swept clean. We've ID'ed the dead man, a low level thug named Carl Mataka. He has a record, but until now it was mostly minor things, the worst being three counts of shoplifting and a B&E."

T.C. huffed at that. "Kidnapping's a big step up from that. What about that phone? Could you trace the other numbers he'd called?"

"All burners unfortunately."

"Damn, I was hoping you'd get something off that because I got nothing. Since it looked like they were going to fix up and flip the Ferrari I talked to some guys I know but even Kawika hadn't heard anything about a car like that going on the market and if anyone would know about something like that happening on the island it'd be him."

Ignoring Rick's mention of the person suspected of running one of Hawai'i most infamous chopshops, Katsumoto continued, "There was no external monitoring of the site but we were able to get footage from the security cameras of the other warehouses in the general area. None of them had clear enough sightlines to give us anything all that useful, but all of them did show that within five minutes of Magnum calling me the entire place cleared out. All vehicles other than the semi took off and there wasn't any further movement to be seen until we arrived there."

"That's weird. I mean, that is weird, right? Why take Thomas and then just leave him there when he fights back a little? He was a Seal, did they think he _wouldn't_ fight back or try to get away? Killing his guard, sure, I can see maybe they didn't account for that, but why just throw in the towel like that? Why pack up and leave? I don't get it." 

"I can't help you, Rick, I don't know. It doesn't make a whole lot more sense to me or the department either. The only reason I can think of to explain their actions is that while they wanted to kidnap Magnum they also wanted to make sure nothing could be traced back to them and, for some reason, were unwilling to kill or seriously harm him."

"Maybe they wanted to use him as leverage? Or wanted to try to get information from him?" T.C. shrugged. "It's possible, right?"

"It has happened before. I'm sure you remember Ivan's infiltration of Robin's Nest when he wanted to find out who Robin Masters based his White Knight upon; that was an intricately planned and well funded affair. Kumu and I were lucky that they believed us when we said we didn't know who it was."

"Yeah, that could have gotten ugly. Uglier than it did anyway. But that still leaves us with no idea who Ivan really is, if he's even related to whoever grabbed Magnum today, or what they wanted with him." Rick turned to Katsumoto. "What's the PD's take on it?"

"It's still under investigation. There won't be any charges pending as a result of Mataka's death but I'll still need to take Magnum's statement in the morning. It's possible CSU will still be able to come up with something that might lead somewhere but…" Katsumoto let the sentence hang, considering what they'd learned so far they all knew how unlikely that would be. "The important thing is he's safe and relatively okay."

Leaning against the doorway, watching Magnum sleep, Higgins added, "Now we just need to make sure he stays that way."

"Amen to that," T.C. muttered. "Amen to that."


End file.
